Browsing by Author "Deater-Deckard, Kirby"

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    A One-year Longitudinal Study of the Stress, Sleep, and Parenting of Mothers of Toddlers
    (Elsevier, 2022) McQuillan, Maureen E.; Bates, John E.; Staples, Angela D.; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objectives: The present study, building on cross-sectional research showing links between mothers' sleep, stress, and parenting, used a longitudinal design to consider (1) the temporal direction of links between mothers' sleep and stress, (2) whether mother sleep deficits predict change in parenting across time, and (3) whether mother sleep deficits mediate the inverse association between stress and positive parenting. Design: The study used repeated measures of stress, mother sleep, and positive parenting at toddler ages 30, 36, and 42 months. Setting: Data were collected at 2 sites, one in the Midwest and one in the East. Participants: Four hundred thirteen mother-toddler pairs were followed. Mothers were mostly married, college educated, and middle class, but there was also considerable variability between families. Measurements: Stress was measured via parenting hassles, CHAOS, and role overload scales. Mother sleep was measured via actigraphy. Positive parenting was observed during the bedtime routine and rated using the HOME scale and other items. Results: Mother stress and sleep were inextricably linked across toddlerhood, and worse sleep was predictive of less observed positive parenting, even when controlling for prior levels of stress and parenting. Conclusions: Improving mothers' sleep may be important in efforts to improve their parenting.
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    Mothers’ sleep deficits and cognitive performance: Moderation by stress and age
    (Public Library of Science, 2021-01-07) Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Chary, Mamatha; McQuillan, Maureen E.; Staples, Angela D.; Bates, John E.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    There are well-known associations between stress, poor sleep, and cognitive deficits, but little is known about their interactive effects, which the present study explored in a sample of mothers of toddlers. Since certain types of cognitive decline start during the 20s and continue into later ages, we also explored whether mothers' age interacted with stress and sleep in the prediction of cognitive functioning. We hypothesized that poorer sleep [measured using one week of 24-hour wrist actigraphy data] and having more chronic stressors [e.g., life events, household chaos, work/family role conflict] would be linked with poorer cognitive performance [both executive function and standardized cognitive ability tasks], and that the interactive combination of poorer sleep and more stressors would account for the effect. We also explored whether this process operated differently for younger versus older women. In a socioeconomically and geographically diverse community sample of 227 women with toddler-age children [age, M = 32.73 yrs, SD = 5.15 yrs], poorer cognitive performance was predicted by greater activity during the sleep period, shorter sleep duration, and lower night-to-night consistency in sleep; it was not associated with higher levels of stress. The interactive effects hypothesis was supported for sleep activity [fragmented sleep] and sleep timing [when mothers went to bed]. The combination of more exposure to stressors and frequent night waking was particularly deleterious for older women's performance. For younger women, going to bed late was associated with poorer performance if they were experiencing high levels of stress; for those experiencing low levels of stress, going to bed late was associated with better performance.
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    The Family Context of Toddler Sleep: Routines, Sleep Environment, and Emotional Security Induction in the Hour before Bedtime
    (Taylor & Francis, 2021) Hoyniak, Caroline P.; Bates, John E.; McQuillan, Maureen E.; Albert, Lauren E.; Staples, Angela D.; Molfese, Victoria J.; Rudasill, Kathleen M.; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Family processes during the pre-bedtime period likely have a crucial influence on toddler sleep, but relatively little previous research has focused on family process in this context. The current study examined several aspects of family process during the pre-bedtime period, including the use of bedtime routines, the qualities of the child’s home sleep environment, and the promotion of child emotional security, in families of 30-month-old toddlers (N=546; 265 female) who were part of a multi-site longitudinal study of toddler development. These characteristics were quantified using a combination of parent- and observer-reports and examined in association with child sleep using correlation and multiple regression. Child sleep was assessed using actigraphy to measure sleep duration, timing, variability, activity, and latency. Bedtime routines were examined using parents’ daily records. Home sleep environment and emotional security induction were quantified based on observer ratings and in-home observation notes, respectively. All three measures of pre-bedtime context (i.e., bedtime routine inconsistency, poor quality sleep environments, and emotional security induction) were correlated with various aspects of child sleep (significant correlations: .11-.22). The most robust associations occurred between the pre-bedtime context measures and sleep timing (i.e., the timing of the child’s sleep schedule) and variability (i.e., night to night variability in sleep timing and duration). Pre-bedtime variables, including bedtime routine consistency, home sleep environment quality, and positive emotional security induction, also mediated the association between family socioeconomic status and child sleep. Our findings underscore the value of considering family context when examining individual differences in child sleep.
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    The Physical Home Environment and Sleep: What Matters Most for Sleep in Early Childhood
    (American Psychological Association, 2022) Hoyniak, Caroline P.; Bates, John E.; Camacho, M. Catalina; McQuillan, Maureen E.; Whalen, Diana J.; Staples, Angela D.; Rudasill, Kathleen M.; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    The physical home environment is thought to play a crucial role in facilitating healthy sleep in young children. However, relatively little is known about how various features of the physical home environment are associated with sleep in early childhood, and some of the recommendations clinicians make for improving child sleep environments are based on limited research evidence. The current study examined how observer and parent descriptions of the child’s physical home environment were associated with child sleep, measured using actigraphy and parent-reports, across a year in early childhood. The study used a machine learning approach (elastic net regression) to specify which aspects of the physical home environment were most important for predicting five aspects of child sleep, sleep duration, sleep variability, sleep timing, sleep activity, and latency to fall asleep. The study included 546 toddlers (265 female) recruited at 30 months of age and re-assessed at ages 36 and 42 months of age. Poorer quality physical home environments were associated with later sleep schedules, more variable sleep schedules, shorter sleep durations, and more parent-reported sleep problems in young children. The most important environmental predictors of sleep were room sharing with an adult, bed sharing, and quality of both the child’s sleep space and the wider home environment.